Friday, July 22, 2011

Ode to the guy who stole our cat

Ode to the guy who stole our cat:

Hey! Guy! Around the block.
You stole our cat, whose name is Doc.

When my 9 year old confronted you, you said it wasn't true.
But our cat has only  1/2 an ear, is it coincidence that yours does too?

He was all alone in Oregon, so we took him into our home.
But when we moved to Laramie, he must have went on a roam.

We checked the shelter every day in hopes of finding him.
But time went by and before to long those hopes became more dim.

My girls,  they cried every night before they went to bed
I tried to soothe them and make it right and said " he must be dead"

So when my kid was riding her bike around our little block
Who does she see lounging in the sun? Our "presumed dead" kitty Doc!

She asked " hey mister, where did you get this cat?"
You said "at the shelter from the guy in the little hat"

How could you lie to a little girl like that?
There is no guy at the shelter who wears a little hat like that!

You tried to trick us, give him a collar so we wouldn't see
Then you gave him a new stupid name. What kind of name is Mr. E?

Doc does look fat and happy, but not happier then before
I am pretty sure he would still like our kids better then he likes yours

So I guess I will let you keep him, since you don't seem to be on crack
But mister, if we ever leave this town, I wont hesitate to steal him back!

Monday, July 18, 2011

A crazy little thing called love

What do you get when you add  2 people with great hair/bodies, fancy dinners, getaways that cost lots of money, a red rose and usually a guitar and a stupid love song? Answer: ABC's The bachelor / bachelorette. Why is it that I have watched  this show pretty much every season since it began? Do you realize how many hours of my life that probably adds up to? As a matter of fact I am watching it as we speak. If I spent as much time exercising as I did watching The Bachelor, I could have been on the show.  Why is it that as a society we get sucked into this crazy idea of love? Why is love so appealing to us and why does it hurt so bad sometimes? It is also interesting how we seem to know what everyone else needs when it comes to love and relationships but fail when it comes to making it work for ourselves.

The grass is always greener on the other side right? That is until you climb the fence and lay down in this "greener"  grass and notice that this grass has bugs, the beginning of weeds, itches your skin and leaves grass stains on your favorite pair of jeans. Ah, lame sauce! What is a girl (or guy) to do now?

This leads me into telling you about a fantastic book I recently read. It is called "Love, Sex & Lasting Relationships by Chip Ingram"  This book gives the best outline of how and why relationships last or fail. So i am going to repost and hopefully it is not considered plagiarism since I am CLEARLY stating that it comes from the above book.

Mr. Ingram gives two formula's and I think I can safely say that the majority of society falls into one of these 2 formulas:

Hollywood's formula for relationships
1. FIND the right person
2. FALL in love
3. FIX your hopes and dreams on this person for your future fulfillment
4. If FAILURE occurs, repeat steps 1, 2, 3

So I would have to say that I am guilty of using this formula in the past. I dated my share of dudes. I think I was guilty of #3 mostly and then #4 approximately 21 times give or take a few. So I use to look back on my past and think why did I date all those losers? Now I look back and say "I am glad to have those experiences because now I am  learning who I am  and will be a better spouse because of it" It did help that my husband is awesome, most of the time, and he is good looking with a great body, sense of humor,  etc......   I also am aware that I have probably just made 21 different lists as the "top loser" ex-girlfriend.

I have been married for 5.75 years and have been together for a total of 8.5 years. It amazes me that we made it through some of our trials. We met in college our first semester. I was a single mother of a 9 month old and he was single mid 20's guy who was trying to get his life in order. We have always had kids in our relationship and it has taken a long time to get the pyramid right. Meaning God 1st, Spouse 2nd, Kids 3rd and then everything else at the bottom. Since I have figured this out our marriage has been rock solid, fulfilling and very enjoyable. Right now due to job demands we see each other (not kidding) approximately 4-6 hours a week. We have 3 kids including a baby, 2 mortgages, both of us work, we live in a 2 bedroom (800 square foot house), we never see each other and yet we are closer than we ever have been. We are growing together when others around us are falling apart. This leads me into the 2nd formula that Mr. Ingram gives us to share and one of the reasons why we are striving in our marriage.

God's prescription for relationships
1. BECOME  the right person
2. WALK in love
3. FIX  your hope on God and seek to please him through this relationship
4. if FAILURE occurs, repeat steps 1, 2, and 3

One of the hardest things I have had to learn to do in my marriage is to love my husband sacrificially. This means that I love him and give 100% even when he least deserves it. Now I am not saying that we are all lovey dovey- happy all the time- puke on the sidewalk couple ( this is infatuation). Some days I really dislike him. However, we have invested enough into our "marriage bank"  to sustain us when times are tough. We keep on investing even when it feels like we can't possibly give any more.

I know that if I do the dishes and clean the house for him then he feels loved by me. He knows that if he goes on a walk with me or reads his book next to me in bed that I feel loved.

Did you know that infatuation last approximately 2 years, then all of a sudden a couple says "oh, we just grew apart." I think that is what happens when we have kids. It is great for awhile then all of a sudden our kid hits their "terrible twos" or "horrible threes".  Too bad we can't tell our kids " oh I think we are growing apart, so I am going to have another baby and hope it turns out better this time around". Then *poof* the cycle repeats itself. What in the world???? What did I do wrong this time??? Crap, God said no refunds!!

So the point is this: All these darn dating shows and sappy movies that we continue to watch and buy into should come with the following disclaimer " FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY" 

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

My job the serious side

As I have said before, I am an OB nurse. Here is my take on my job on a serious note:

I work nights, weekends and holidays. I work 12 hour shifts and at times it turned into 14 or 16 hours. I miss my kid's school functions. I work opposite of my husband and have to work extra hard to keep my marriage healthy. I miss meal times and bedtimes with my family so that I can be with yours. I have to hold my bladder and not eat or drink sometimes for 12 hours because I am helping your wife/mother/sister/ daughter to bring a new life into this world and they dont want me to leave thier side. I have given a hand to hold and a shoulder to cry on when a baby is taken much to soon and most of the time I am there crying with you. I have comforted babies that are sick, dying, or premature. I have the knowledge to help and comfort you and your family when things don't go as planned and we are rushing to the OR to save the life of your unborn baby or sometimes even yourself. I listen and am empethetic to all of your aches, pains and complaints regarding pregnancy because I know, I have been there. I am underpaid and overworked but yet I come into every shift with a smile on my face and am genuine when I say that I want to be here. This is what it means to be a OB / Nursery nurse. I am proud to say that I am one!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Childhood dream

So lots of us had childhood dreams when we were younger. Some people wanted to be firefighters, cowboys, princesses, doctors, construction workers, Indians or maybe even a sailor. Well, not me, while you were out there trying to become one of the village people, I was striving to marry Joe Elliott from Def Leppard.

I was so obsessed that at the age of 10, my cousins and I all pretended that the Def Leppard guys were our Boyfriends. My cousin Shanna's was Rick Savage (the bassist), my cousin Alicia's was Steve Clark (the guitarist), my cousin Carina had Phil Collin (not to be confused with Genesis, take a look at me now guy) and we told my cousin Heather how cool it was that her boyfriend was Rick Allen, the one armed drummer.  So while most girls were playing dress up and barbies, we were singing into our hairbrushes and making up dances to Pour Some Sugar on Me.  I loved Def Leppard so much. I still, as an adult, love 2 things: 80's hair bands and hockey, more specifically, the Colorado Avalanche.

This was the case until.................. see link below before continuing..............

http://youtu.be/npwMdSWSeZI


Not only were the stupid Red Wings "bringing on the heartbreak" and making this debacle possible, but they crushed a girls dreams. 10 year old Candice's dreams to be exact.   30 year old Candice was was screaming Noooooooo as a single tear fell onto her cheek. Love really does Bite.

Very sad days when Def Leppard goes from number one band in your life down to the spot right between Micheal Bolton and Kenny G.  So I am not sure how it will ever be the same. God says to give grace and forgive, so I guess I will try but this is asking a lot.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Why do kids grow so fast?

Today we had Scarlet's 6 month well baby check-up and Cas' 4 year old check up. Scarlet weighted in at a sweet average of 15lbs 10 oz while Cas weighted in at a whoppin 39 1/2 lbs.  She is like my bear cub:  big, brown and furry. It left me pondering why do kids grow so fast?

It seems to me that it is God's joke on us. Our infants grow at an astounding rate where as it seems like they are 2 and 3 years old for 5 years. So was this Gods clever plan so that we will continue to procreate? Every woman looks at a newborn and oohhs and aahhs over it and 99% of the time says " oh I miss that age".  95% of the time they are saying this with a whiny 3 year old pulling on their pant leg.  I am thinking: Oh ya lady I feel your pain.

It seems to be that they are newborns for such a short amount of time but could we really survive having a newborn if they stayed newborn for much longer than 30 days? Ya they are cute but we often forget that they go through 8-1000 diapers /day. They nurse every 2 hours even through the night and its is a flat out lie that "sleeping like a baby" is anything close to resembling real sleep. So the first year of a baby's life most mothers would walk around like a complete zombie due to sleep deprivation. Our poor husbands would be sad sad people "honey? (sad face) can we please spend some time together (more sad face with a little bottom lip)?"  Us moms would be like " uh, sure I can pencil you in around 2pm on Thursday the 21st in between my nap and a feeding".  As of now we spend approximately 4 months in this mode.  

So yes babies are cute and sweet and lots of work, Gods design was perfect when deciding how fast our kids grow. I am still trying to figure out why they stay 3 for so long though. In my family 4 is on the horizon and life seems to get a bit easier when your child turns 4.  I try to forget that after the joy of 4, there is 9, 10, 11, 12......so on so forth. In the meantime, I am praising the lord for giving the Doctors the know-how to invent tubal ligations!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

To medicate or not

My oldest daughter Brayden whom we call B for short was diagnosed 2 months ago with ADHD. We were advised to begin with medication management right off the bat. Well these last 2 months have been an emotional roller coaster.

Growing up B has always been very outgoing and full of energy. Not the kind of bouncing off the wall energy but energy of the mouth. She talks, talks talks, and talks some more. Always has something to say or add to any conversation. Even the conversations she has with herself, there always seems to be one more thing she just NEEDS to say.

 When she started Kindergarten, the dreaded report card started. Every single one since Kindergarten has said the same things : Very bright but talks to much to her friends, easily distracted, doesn't stay focused and (this years said) doesn't stay sitting in chair. So this last year in 3rd grade the teacher mentioned I should get her tested for ADHD. In the back of my mind I am thinking "Ya right lady, she doesn't have that." but the nursing part of my brain jingled (just a little).  We (the teacher and I) decided she would try some different things in the classroom and keep in close contact with me on B's progress. Well the year went by and B's grades were slowly but surely declining. So with a month left of school I got her tested. Well she passed that test with flying colors unlike the math test she had brought home previously that week. So we leave the Dr's. office with a prescription of Concerta.

First off let me add that there is so much stigma over medications with ADHD, so I was very nervous about going that route. After some research, I found that there is so many things out there to supposedly treat this. I also found that some of these ideas are a crock of you know what. Potatoes people, I was going to say potatoes.  Concerta is also called methylphenidate. It is a stimulant which in kids with ADHD is supposed to work the opposite from what a stimulant would do to me or you. So when we got the prescription and was going to give her the first dose, I really had to give my self a pep talk and it went something like this: We don't have to do this forever, this really is the best treatment option, it will help her pass 4th grade, just think of it as organic meth..... etc.

What did we find with the Concerta use is that she had better focus but had side effects such as stomach aches, headaches, crazy emotions, weight loss and started picking at her skin. So a  few weeks ago I looked at her and thought, probably out loud, Oh my goodness, I have a "legal" meth addict for a kid. She looked horrible. She had lost 10% of her body weight. She is a competitive gymnast and only 60lbs to begin with so she didn't have any weight to lose. She has also picked so many scabs into her skin it looked like a polka-dot puppy and not the cute kind, more the kind with leprosy.

So what to do now. We took her off the Concerta and she ate like a teenage boy for a week and the scabs are healing.  I know that there are tons of other meds out there. I feel like we are working with a diabetic trying to find the right doses of insulin. So we will work it out and in the mean time I am trying to nurse her back to cute puppy kid.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The beginning

A little about myself. I am 30 years old, married for 5 1/2 years to a wonderful man, have 3 kids (all girls) and am a terribly bad speller. Did I mention I also work as a Registered Nurse. So I guess I am just crazy busy or just crazy.

Today I was thinking how neat it would be to share a little bit about how I manage  and also some of the funny, sad, interesting things that happen in my life.

My girls: Brayden is 9, Castilleja is 3.9 (her birthday is in 16 days), and Scarlet is 6 months. These girls are my pride and joy but wow, no one ever told me it would be this hard to be mom. My husband is in law enforcement and works all, I mean all, the time. So you mix that with me working and it is Gods miracle that we have a happy healthy marriage.

Speaking of God, I am a new Christian, since March of this year. So I am learning to incorporate that into my parenting, marriage and lifestyle. I have a wonderful church I go to and a great support system that helps me to grow into a better Christian everyday.

I work night shift at the hospital so I lack sleep on a regular basis, so drivers in Wyoming WATCH OUT! Just kidding but it is not a lifestyle I would like to continue forever. I have done this for 5 years and I feel like I have hit a brick wall physically. Maybe my age?

Other labels that may fit me are:
Breastfeeding mom
Medium complexion
Mother of one blonde child, one dark haired, dark eyed and dark skinned child and then one in-betweener.
Ob nurse
Delivered 7 babies by myself (not on purpose)
Have a huge extended family
Had a one legged stalker in my lifetime
Had a teenage pregnancy that I placed that child for adoption
Lived in Oregon for 3.5 years
Never went on a date till my husband
Love clothes but never get to buy any
Have tons of shoes and always say I will wear them but still only wear the same 3 pairs
Hate those big purses (its like carrying around a diaper bag)
Hate those big sunglasses
Liked the 80's in the 80's but when I saw a dude walking around totally dressed in 80s gear, realized that I no longer ever want the 80's dress fads to come back into style.
Love music
Play the guitar
Sing in a band sometimes
Learning to enjoy running and exercising
Am totally addicted to Coke O' Cola, not the diet kind either
Has a child with ADHD
Has a child with tons of mosquito bites
Sleep in a full size bed but every night when the baby is in there, wish it was a queen or king size


So that's me in a nutshell!